I was down Monday with server issues, which I hope have been resolved. Many thanks to Joe D. from Metsmerized for his help and patience.

MAINE: Thrown under the bus.

Two items occurred that I haven’t had the opportunity to comment on: John Maine and Jenrry Mejia.

The one on Maine is especially disturbing because it shows and ugly side of Jerry Manuel. His comment about pitching Maine “on the off days,’’ was for a cheap laugh, which he got. But, how he threw Maine under the bus like that has to send a message to other players when dealing with their injuries.

Maybe Maine is done with the Mets, but he’s still here and working hard to get back. He deserves his manager’s respect.

If I’m a player and working hard to get back, I don’t like the manager taking a cheap shot at me for his benefit.

I’d especially like to say hi to my dad, who introduced me to baseball, and nurtured my love for the sport as somebody who’d play catch with me in the back yard, take me to the Indians games and hit grounders to me as my Little League coach.

Baseball, to this day, has always been a common denominator in our lives. Even when we argued, as fathers and sons do, baseball was something we could always talk about.

Later, I brought him down to spring training with me and that was a wonderful, special time, one I’ll always be grateful for having experienced.

I love my dad and always will for the things he taught and gave me, and one of those things was baseball.

I always liked Luis Castillo in the two hole because of his ability to bunt, hit behind Jose Reyes and work the count.

However, with the way Angel Pagan has taken to that position in the order, and how the Mets have played with him there, when Castillo comes back from the disabled list I’d rather have him hit eight and keep Pagan second.

Last night, Pagan broke open a close game with a two run double, something he’s done a lot of lately with an average of well over .300 with RISP.

Reyes and David Wright are hitting now, but unquestionably the Mets’ most consistent hitter this season has been Pagan.

He’ll bat second again today in a pitcher’s duel between Mike Pelfrey and Phil Hughes, both of whom are 9-1.